CHAPTER 7: HOSPITAL COMES HOME
“Dad what’s wrong?”
“EVERYTHING! EVERYTHING IS WRONG!” he bellowed.
Alarmed, my mother came out of the kitchen.
“What happened?” he asked nervously.
“What happened?! What happened?! I can’t fix him! That’s what happened! He’s dying and there is nothing I can do about it!”
“I’m sure you can try something else tomorrow, sweetheart,” my mother said, trying to comfort him.
“Tomorrow he could be dead. He could die any day now!”
I walked down the stairs proudly. Suddenly, I wasn’t sad anymore. I walked up right to my father and slapped him across the face. Hard.
“SHUT UP. SHUT UP. SHUT UP. YOU ARE THE BEST GODDAMN CARDIOLOGIST IN THE NATION. HELL, PROBABLY THE WORLD, AND YOURE GIVING UP ON YOUR OWN GODDAMN FATHER? YOU DIDNT GIVE UP ON TONY RINGWALD, THE MAN WHO SHOULD HAVE DIED, AND LOOK WHERE HE IS NOW! ALIVE. HE WROTE A FRICKIN BOOK ABOUT BEING ALIVE BECAUSE OF YOU. NOW YOU’RE GOING TO STOP FUSSING ABOUT NOT GETTING IMMEDIATE RESULTS AND WORK A BIT HARDER. THAT’S HOW YOU RAISED ME AND GODDAMN IT STOP BEING A HYPOCRITE.”
Everyone was silent. Blane and Katie were at the top of the staircase with their mouths wide open. Bennie was outside with this Lebron basketball so he didn’t get to witness my monumental moment. I was expecting a “you’re grounded” or a “who do you think you are?” or at least a “who the hell is that fine boy at the top of the staircase?” but all I got was a small “thank you.”
He looked up at me like I had woken him up from a daze and just whispered “thank you” and walked into the kitchen.
As I looked up to Blane, I noticed that Katie had changed her low cut tank top to a modest sweater. Hey, at least she didn’t look like the whore she was.
As I walked back up the stairs, I muttered, “changing your clothes doesn’t change who you are.”
I knew that had to hurt. It had to hurt because it hurt saying it. Because it wasn’t true. It wasn’t her fault she was captivatingly beautiful. But I didn’t want her to know that. I wanted her to think I hated her. Because deep down, I did.
Blane asked me if I wanted him to stay and I said no. He said he understood, and left the house. I watched him from the window play basketball with Bennie outside and let him win. Then, he slowly walked home with his head down. All I could think was damn this was an interesting day.
